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August 2010

August 30, 2010

Several years ago I visited John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset, Iowa. I discovered a number of his quotes, and among them is this one, apparently in the public domain. (If not, I will be happy to cite the source once it is identified.)

“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.”

August 29, 2010

+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This morning we are having our second Mass on the Grass, and there are four ways in which it’s déjà vu all over again:

First, just like back in July, this is my first Sunday back after being on vacation; second, just like back in July, I’m preaching; third, just like back in July, I’m with the [St. Gregory's worship] band(!); and fourth, and much more significantly, our lessons last July and this morning are about hospitality.

Last July, we heard the story of Abraham’s hospitality when three angels disguised as men visited him. This morning, the author of Hebrews alludes to that story when he writes, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (v. 2).

Let’s take a close look at the first two verses of the reading from Hebrews. The first verse is translated “Let mutual love continue.” A more literal translation from the Greek is this: “Let brotherly love continue.” Apparently the translators wanted to be gender neutral, and decided that “Let brotherly and sisterly love continue” was just too awkward! But however it’s translated, the Greek word in this first verse is one that you all know, even if you don't know that you know it! Anyone know what the Greek word for "brotherly love" is? {{Congregational Response}} [philadelphia: phil― love; adelphia― brothers]

So the first verse is “Let philadelphia continue,” which most literally means “Let love of brothers continue,” and which in the context of this reading means, “Let love of your brothers and sisters in Christ continue.”

Now let’s look at verse 2: “Do not neglect to show philoxenias, for by doing that some have entertained strangers unawares.” If philadelphiameans “love of brothers,” what do you suppose philoxenias means? {{Congregational Response}} [philo― love; xenias― strangers.] So the most literal translation of the second verse is this: “Do not neglect to show love of strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels unawares.”

And notice that for Christians, for us, the definition of “hospitality” is love of strangers.

So the author of Hebrews is reminding us this morning that we are to practice both philadelphia and philoxenias― love of brothers and sisters in Christ, and love of strangers.

Hospitality, of course, requires a host. What are the qualities of a good host?

Henri Nouwen, the late Dutch Roman Catholic priest, wrote this in his now classic book Reaching Out (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc, 1975):

“Poverty makes a good host.” And then Nouwen goes on to say that “two forms of poverty are very important, the poverty of the mind and the poverty of the heart” (p. 73).

Here’s what Henri Nouwen describes as “The Poverty of Mind”:

“Someone who is filled with ideas, concepts, opinions and convictions cannot be a good host. There is no inner space to listen, no openness to discover the gift of the other. It is not difficult to see how those ‘who know it all’ can kill a conversation and prevent an exchange of ideas” (p. 74)

And here’s how Nouwen describes “The Poverty of Heart”:

“A good host not only has to be poor in mind but also poor in heart. When our heart is filled with prejudices, worries, jealousies, there is little room for the stranger. In a fearful environment it is not easy to keep our hearts open to the wide range of human experiences. Real hospitality, however, is not exclusive but inclusive and creates space for a large variety of human experiences” (p. 75).

Poverty of Mind and Poverty of Heart have been in short supply in our current debates about immigration policy and about the Islamic Center in New York City. The voices of xenophobia― the fear of the stranger― have all but overwhelmed the voices of Christian philoxenias― the love of strangers.

Henry Nouwen also wrote about a special kind of host― the teacher. This week many of our children went back to school, and in another two weeks our Sunday School will start again. So here’s what Nouwen wrote about teaching:

“When we want to speak about the ‘spirituality of the teacher,’ two aspects of the task ask for special attention: revealing and affirming.

“The hospitable teacher has to reveal to the students that [the students] have something to offer. Many students have been for so many years on the receiving side . . . that they have lost confidence in themselves and can hardly imagine that they themselves have something to give. . . .

“[The hospitable teacher will] help the students . . . [reveal] the beauty of the gifts they are carrying with them. We will never believe we have anything to give unless there is someone who is able to receive” (p. 61).

In other words, the hospitable teacher practices “Poverty of Mind.” As Nouwen goes on to write, the hospitable teacher also practices “Poverty of Heart”:

“What is revealed as good, worthwhile or as a new contribution [by the student], needs to be affirmed.. . .The good host is the one who not only helps the [students] to see that they have hidden talents, but who also is able to help them develop and deepen these talents so that they can continue their way on their own with a renewed self-confidence” (Ibid.)

One of the things I most cherish about our parish is how we welcome the stranger on Sundays, and how we reveal and affirm the many gifts we have to offer that nourish and renew our life together.

May God grant us the poverty of mind and heart to continue growing both in philadelphia and in philoxenias. Amen.

August 26, 2010

Each Sunday morning we gather for prayer, praise, and to be strengthened, nourished, and renewed in our commitment to Christ through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. And then at the conclusion of the service we are sent forth to do Christ's work in the world. No one is exempt from being "sent forth." And so the only question that remains is: sent forth to do what? There are many needs in the world and in our community, but ministry needs also abound right here at St. Gregory's. In a recent newsletter, Marsh LeSueur highlighted our ministry in the Community Meals program in Waukegan. Janet and Bill Foltz, 847-548-2772, wfoltz@comcast.net, can tell you more about this ministry. As we approach the school year, I'd like to bring to your attention and discernment several other service opportunities.

As we prepare for another Church School Year, additional adult volunteers are needed for our nursery and Children's Church. You can serve one Sunday a month or even less frequently. If this is a ministry to which you feel called, please contact Gretchen Bayer, 847-267-1660, gretchen.bayer@yahoo.com. She'll show you how to sign up to volunteer online! Or contact me to help out in Children's Church at 847-383-5576, vicar@stgregoryschurch.org.

We all enjoy our fellowship hour after the 9 o'clock service. Would you be willing to "host" coffee hour once a year? We even furnish the coffee and baked goods! All we need are people to "host. There's a sign-up sheet waiting for your name to be added!

On Sunday, our Director of Music Ministries, Jim Collins, 773-286-4311, pfingers@sbcglobal.net, put out a call for people willing to sing in the choir. Are you interested in making a joyful noise unto the Lord on Sunday mornings?

And also on Sunday, I asked for volunteers willing to provide a meal, a ride to the doctor, or other assistance to church members in need of temporary help during an illness or after a hospitalization. If you are willing to be "on call" for such occasional service, please contact our Family Support Ministry coordinators: Ishani Sinnaduray, 847-634-9106, ishanis@aol.com; Brooke Fogt, 847-945-1871, brookefogt@discover.com, or Sharon Moceri, 847-392-6433, sharmo1@aol.com.

Come see me if you need help in discerning how God is calling you to serve right here at St. Gregory's Church.

UPCOMING YOUTH MINISTRY DATES

August 29

Youth Commission's FIRST ANNUAL KIDS' CARNIVAL

Have you heard about the Youth Commission Carnival on August 29th? It is right after the 9:00 a.m. Mass on the Grass. We will have several games for children, a cupcake walk, balloon making and face painting! Lunch will be served. We will also have some prizes for adults!

We could also use some helpers. We need adults and students to run simple games and paint faces. The time commitment is minimal, and you will be given all your needed supplies. We will be running in shifts, so you don't have to work the entire time. If you are able to help from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. on August 29th, please let Gail Bozzano or Annette Baez know.

September 12 - Regular Youth Group begins for the school year. We will meet every Sunday from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. for Middle School and 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. for High School. The exception is the first Sunday of each month, which is a Joint Youth Group meeting from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. with dinner.

September 25-26 - Second Annual Youth Retreat

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR ANN HALLET

The memorial service for Ann Hallet will be held here at St. Gregory's Church on Saturday, August 28th. Visitation will be at 10:00 a.m. followed by the Mass of the Resurrection at 11:00 a.m. A reception with light lunch will follow the service in Founders Hall. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Home of the Sparrow, 6213 Factory Road, Crystal Lake, Illinois 60014 or to St. Gregory's Church.

PRESCHOOL NEWS

St. Gregory's Episcopal Preschool will begin its 5th school year on September 1st and we are so excited to get this year going! We have refreshed our rooms with paint and new equipment and are embarking on a new 5 day per week program! As part of our licensing requirements, parishioners and visitors are asked to be aware of a few things:

During the week, the gate will be up at the south entrance off of Deerfield Road. This is to control traffic flow for the elementary students at Wilmot Elementary and for the safety of our preschool students. Please use the entrance off of Wilmot Road and watch your speed in the parking lot.

From 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., adults are asked to please use the accessible restrooms off of the Sanctuary. Not only are they much nicer, but they prevent any adult from being in the restroom alone with a child unknowingly. There will be signs on the restrooms doors to remind us to use the other restrooms.

For safety, the door to the preschool room is locked. Please come to the Parish Office if you need to contact the preschool.

Founders Hall is used for preschool activities when weather does not permit us to go outside. If you need to schedule a meeting in Founders Hall, please contact the Parish Office for availability.

Please also continue to support the preschool ministry with your prayers and referrals. Our five-day program is off to a great start, due much to the loving support of our parish! Thank you to everyone for your cooperation in helping keep our program safe and secure. This year promises to be our best yet!

MARIAN HOUSE UPDATES AS OF 08/22/2010

Project continues to move ahead and remains on target for expected occupancy during the weekend of September 11th;

Insulation work is scheduled for this week and will require a subsequent building inspection before drywall;

Other work continues forward in preparation for installing drywall that's scheduled to begin this Friday;

Upstairs bathroom framing, installed shower pan and all other plumbing has been completed;

Additional leaks and cracked pipes have been found in both the downstairs and crawl space plumbing requiring the Work Group to repair and replace. Significant cost overruns have been incurred by the Work Group to mitigate continued damage and prevent larger repairs if left unattended.

ST. GREGORY'S BOOK CLUB NEWS

St. Gregory's Book Club will meet again on Wednesday, September 1st, at 7:30 p.m. to discuss The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

ST. GREGORY'S PRESCHOOL AUCTION ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25

The 5th Annual Pig Roast and Auction for St. Gregory's Episcopal Preschool will take place on Saturday, September 25, from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Join us for an exciting evening of delicious food, live entertainment, and fantastic prizes offered in our live and silent auctions. A cash bar will be available. Special features include gift baskets, wine pull, and a "50/50" Raffle. Admission tickets are $20.00 for adults and are available in Founders Hall following Sunday services or at the Parish Office. Child care will be available with advance registration and payment of $8.00 per child (includes pizza dinner). Tickets for the "50/50" Raffle are also available for $5.00 each or 5 for $20.00. Purchase your admission tickets early so that we can plan appropriately for this spectacular event!

August 25, 2010

Faithful readers will remember when I first recommended TheOldie. One of its recurring columns is called Webster’s webwatch, and the August print edition suggested several websites. As a public service I will devote the next three posts to highlight one of them each day.

Number 1: “Shakespearean insults. Press the button and it presents you with another random insult from Shakespeare (Thou fawning rampallian moldwarp). Great fun.”

August 23, 2010

This past Sunday’s Book Review in The New York Times featured Eliza Griswold’s The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches From the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam. Even without reading the book itself, Linda Robinson’s review provides an even larger context for the “Non-Mosque at Ground Zero” matter.

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Bonus question: what is the connection between today’s posting and the last post on this topic? Please respond via Facebook or this blog’s Comments section.

August 17, 2010

Last night, Keith Olbermann presented a “Special Comment” on the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque.” It's worth the 12 minutes, especially the geography lesson about half-way through the video, and the history of an Islamic Center at the end.

After watching the video, I invite you to read the sermon I preached on the evening of 9/11.

+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I am still in a state of shock. I was watching the television when the second Tower exploded. And then I saw the replay, and there was the plane— a huge plane, banking and then flying right into the Tower.

Before coming to St. Gregory’s, I worked in Manhattan. Our son James was born in Manhattan. But most chilling of all, Ingrid’s father used to work in one of those two Towers, on one of the highest floors. And we visited him there several times.

I had to leave the television. The horror was too much for me. I realized that if I kept watching, it would do terrible things to my soul. So my first counsel: be careful how much time you spend looking at this horror.

This horrible tragedy, this unbelievable loss of life, is the latest crucifixion of the Son of God. That’s why I chose the Passion Gospel, with its terrible cry of “Why have you forsaken me?” Whenever innocent life is lost, Jesus stretches forth his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross again. As I searched for a Collect for this evening’s service, I almost chose this one for the Feast of the Holy Innocents:

“We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

I also thought to myself, “This is the Pearl Harbor of our generation.” And with that thought I had two more. First, that this is a war we must win, just as we won that war for the sake of freedom and justice. But also, hoping that in our rage today, we do not make the same mistake we made then, when we condemned innocent Japanese Americans to the interment camps. As we pursue these evil terrorists, may our Father in heaven deliver us from evil.

As my wife Ingrid and daughter Karen were absorbed by the television, I reminded them that they needed to get going to their jobs. Ingrid works across the street at an elementary school where she helps take care of kids with disabilities. “Life goes on,” I said, “and those children need you.” When we are faced with something so overwhelming, we must focus on the here and now. God has given us tasks here, ministries here, people to love and cherish here. And by going about our work, we triumph in the best way over those who seek to terrorize us into paralysis, terrorize us into hatred, terrorize us into becoming like them.

So take your anger and your rage and your sorrow and your grief and your fear and your confusion and your frustration and throw it all at the Cross. The violence stops there. But the crucifixion continues.

August 16, 2010

The front page of today’s edition of The New York Times features a fascinating article on getting away from it all― when the “all” is connecting to cyberspace.

The online page is interactive, including two videos and a panoramic view of the San Juan River in Utah and the participants in a back-to-nature experiment on “braincation.”

Some highlights:

“‘Attention is the holy grail,’ Mr. Strayer says. ‘Everything that you’re conscious of, everything you let in, everything you remember and you forget, depends on it.’”

. . .

“The five scientists on the trip can be loosely divided into two groups: the believers and the skeptics. The believers are Mr. Strayer and Paul Atchley, 40, a professor at the University of Kansas who studies teenagers’ compulsive use of cellphones. They argue that heavy technology use can inhibit deep thought and cause anxiety, and that getting out into nature can help. They take pains in their own lives to regularly log off.”

. . .

“It is a debate that has become increasingly common as technology has redefined the notion of what is ‘urgent.’ How soon do people need to get information and respond to it? The believers in the group say the drumbeat of incoming data has created a false sense of urgency that can affect people’s ability to focus.”

. . .

“The men drink Tecate beer and talk about the brain. They are thinking about a seminal study from the University of Michigan that showed people can better learn after walking in the woods than after walking a busy street.

“The study indicates that learning centers in the brain become taxed when asked to process information, even during the relatively passive experience of taking in an urban setting. By extension, some scientists believe heavy multitasking fatigues the brain, draining it of the ability to focus.

“Mr. Strayer, the trip leader, argues that nature can refresh the brain. ‘Our senses change. They kind of recalibrate — you notice sounds, like these crickets chirping; you hear the river, the sounds, the smells, you become more connected to the physical environment, the earth, rather than the artificial environment. That’s why they call it vacation. It’s restorative,’ Mr. Braver says.”

(For a less technical treatment of the University of Michigan’s findings about the restorative effects of nature, click here.)